Sunday, April 18, 2010

Expensive Goat

A few years ago, we got ripped off on E-Bay. We bought a horse trailer thru an authorized dealer (Stephen Lewis, USA Cowboy) for Delta Horse Tailers out of Arkansas, which were being sold on E-Bay. It was a "Buy It Now" transaction, not an auction. It is a long story, and one for another post, but the end result was that we paid $3,500 for a horse trailer that we never got. We filed police reports in Indiana and Oklahoma, and contacted the FBI for internet fraud. We filed complaints with the Attorneys General in Indiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma (where USA Cowboy was located); went to small claims court in Indiana and Arkansas, and all we got was our $600 deposit back from Delta Trailers. We ended up talking to two other victims of Stephen Lewis, one of which told us he went to court in Oklahoma and was was told that he would have to wait in a long line -- there were a lot of folks out there trying to get justice from dealings with Stephen Lewis, USA Cowboy.

Then, about 2 years after we were robbed by this guy, out of the clear blue sky, the Attorney General of Oklahoma called us to say they were about to arrest him, and asked if we had any documentation of our dealings with him. They were building a case, and needed as much evidence as they could get. Well, as it turns out, we did have a file -- a rather thick one, and I copied the entire thing and sent it off to Oklahoma.

Yesterday, I went to the mailbox, and there was a letter there from the Oklahoma Attorney General. I was really excited, believing this would be some sort of news on this thieving creep that ripped us off. I did not open it -- I held off, wanting to open it with John so we could both read it together.

John was out in the pasture with the goats and horses, cutting up a tree that had fallen late last year. I went out to him with the envelope....I opened it, and pulled the letter out. Just as I did that, our white goat, Misho, jumped up and took a huge bite out of the letter!! It happened so fast! I unfolded the partially eaten letter, and my eyes fell on the phrase

"...the enclosed check...."

My heart jumped....I realized I was holding two pieces of paper.... I looked at the second page of the letter, and sure enough, it was a check!!! Only now it was missing the bottom right section...I said "John, this is a check!!!" We both looked at Misho, and he was just standing there, chewing away on our restitution check. There was no way to get it back to piece it back together -- it was gone forever, down the goat's gullet!

Once we recovered from our disbelief and shock, we laughed for about 10 minutes........

So now we have to write to the Attorney General of Oklahoma, return the partially eaten check, and request it to be reissued! I am going to send him these photos as proof...

And yes, Misho is still alive...John did not kill him. I keep telling Misho he owes us money...............

Pony Girl -- No, it wasn't full restitution, but even something is better than nothing. I believe we will get additional payments, at least I think that is what it said in the letter. But so much of the letter was eaten, that I am not sure! We will find out when we get a replacement copy....

About Me

John has been substitute teaching, and is studying for obtaining his teaching certification. Regina is the in-house accounts/HR manager for a machine shop. In addition to our horses, we have two cats, and five chickens. John is a first-generation American, with his parents arriving after WWII. Regina has a relative who fought in the Revolutionary War.